Friday, May 22, 2009

My new post workout ritual is to visit the sauna. This allows me to have a few quiet moments to myself (fully clothed. No naked sauna for this gal) and sweat all the nasties out of me.

Well last night I entered the sauna and it was just me and another lady. She was sauna-ing in her swimsuit. Fine. I don’t mind that, just the naked thing weirds me out. Anywho, the quietness of the hot and steamy sauna only lasted for a moment. Swimsuit sauna lady began a 20 minute conversation in Chinese on her cell phone. Who does that? Seriously. I am ok with quiet small talk amongst yourselves, but if you need to carry on a conversation on your cell phone AND you do not know how to properly use your inside voice, then do it outside of the sauna. It really irked me last night. A few other gym rats joined me in the sauna and we gave each other puzzling looks whilst swimsuit sauna lady chatted up a storm. When I left the sauna she was still going strong with her phone conversation. Let’s hope tonight’s sauna visit is a little more peaceful.

What are your thoughts on sauna etiquette? Do you thinking loud talking is appropriate or do you prefer the quietness and relaxation of the sauna?

Thursday, May 14, 2009

I love this gal to pieces. Seriously. She is the beautiful wife of one of Travis’ best friends, James Newman and quite possibly one of the sweetest gals I’ve ever met. She even has a cute East Texas accent to boot!

Tara, I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful birthday and it’s the best you’ve ever had. Thank you for being such a wonderful friend (and sister-ha!) to me. I am blessed to know you and call you a friend. The Riley’s can’t wait to make more memories with the Newman Family.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

This nasty fella’ decided to make an appearance at the Riley Ranch on Saturday. Travis had gone out into the back yard and noticed what he thought was a piece of rubber. He took a few steps forward and noticed that the rubbery like material was in fact not a piece of rubber but a nasty snake. T went back into the house and grabbed his gun. When he returned he took care of that nasty serpent.

I am so glad I was out of town because I would have flipped out if I saw that guy in my back yard. He was just 25 feet from the back porch. That is TOO close to home for me. Just two weeks ago I had found some snake skin in the barn next to the riding law mower, so I made T move the lawn mower so I could mow. I did not even want to get close to that skin. Hopefully this fella’ T killed outgrew that skin he left in the barn. I sure hope we don’t see anymore!

Monday, May 4, 2009

I moved to Dallas in the spring of 2005 and at that time I was working for a great little brokerage firm in Richardson. My boss and his wife were very active members of a church there called The Heights Baptist Church. Out of respect for my boss and wanting to earn a few brownie points, I attended church one Sunday. I was hooked. I was in love. The members were very friendly, the music was great, and the pastor and sermon were incredible. I immediately wanted more. I started going every Sunday I could. Then Travis walks in to my life and decides to change things up. The problem with going to The Heights didn’t start when we were dating because he would come pick me up Sunday mornings and we would drive the 10 miles to church. I knew things would change when we got married. The church was now going to be over 30 miles away and I knew that would be too far to drive on Sunday, especially when I’m driving close to 100 miles a day to get to work.

After the wedding the search to find a church close to our home began. Let me tell you that it has not been easy. Not one bit! We have been to almost every church in the Aubrey, Frisco, Denton, and Plano area and we do not feel led to call any of those ‘home’. It is taxing and frustrating at the same time. We compare each church to The Heights and frankly nobody is matching up. Nobody! We’ve tried mega churches, medium churches, small churches, and even cowboy churches! I know the Lord has the right church out there for us, but I hope that he leads us to one soon. We are both so ready to find a place to call ‘home’ and get settled in a Sunday School class and make new friends!

I just ask that you fellow blog readers pray that the Lord will continue to open our eyes and hearts to finding a new church home, and direct us in the path that He would like us to follow.

This past weekend I had the privilege of going to Waco to co-host a shower for one of my best friends, Miss. Abbie Cooper. She is the bride elect of Mr. Chris Rusek of Waco, Texas. These two met in the summer of 2003 when they were both working for George’s restaurant. They did not start dating until 2006. They are a wonderful couple and I could not be happier for the soon to be Rusek’s.

I find it amazing that 4 girls planned a shower without one phone conversation. The entire planning process was done via email since none of us live in the same town. The shower was a hit. The food was amazing, the flowers were perfect, and the cake was divine.

I mentioned to one of my co-workers that one of my responsibilities for the shower was to supply the sweets. She mentioned that she knows a young lady who bakes cakes. I contacted Ashleigh and she agreed to make a cake for me. The only requests I had were that it was a white cake with vanilla flavored icing, using the colors blue and brown to coordinate with the shower theme, and nothing too girly. The outcome was amazing! I cannot believe Ashleigh is just 23 years old and bakes these cakes out of her kitchen. The taste was just as amazing as it looks. The fondant is hand made, as well as the buttercream icing and the cake itself! It was a de-lish!